Joni Mitchell-Car On A Hill

[buggeringon]

when ther s so much sweetness in the dark

[terrybeaton]

Anybody ever wonder what that castle-like building over Joni's shoulder on For The Roses is. It's the Bessbourough Hotel in Saskatoon; Joni spent her youth there. It's very near the Broadway Bridge mentioned in Cerokee Louise. You can google (image) both. In many pictures you will see both landmarks together(their image is rather iconic in Saskatchewan.) I was born in Saskatoon and live three blocks away, about a mile from Joni's old highschool. She still visits the neighbourhood now and then!

[TheKhaibear]

Ahhh. Court and Spark' I'm transported back to southern CA in the early 70' where my parents played this all the time. Still one of my favourite Joni albums. Thanks for the post.

[FRANCECHILD]

PLEASE STOP SMOKIN JONI. LOVE

[Frankiarmz]

What an intro! Great song, never gets old.

[Punktowner]

One of my favorites of this brilliant artist's songs.

[DrDreamPhD]

My favorite Joni track. You can see how by 1974 Joni has begun to wander pretty far from folk and even rock, toward jazz and prog rock. I hear soprano sax, trumpet, and flute. I love how the half-note triplets (at 1:00) become a new meter at the trippy choral part and back to triplets and the old meter (at 1:25) into jazz rock. There's the cool ending (2:30) with the electric piano and acoustic guitar harmonics trading off. But best part is 2:05 when she says "sweetness in the dark".

[froggo66]

@DrDreamPhD I share your love for this song ... it might not be my very favorite JM song, but it's in the top 5. But your comment on the "sweetness in the dark" is so perfect. Those few words express and universalize the most personal sense of vulnerability and sensuousness, in such a touching, sweet poetic way. There are a few lines in Hejira's "Song for Sharon" that have the same impact for me. She is such a lyrical genius! Thanks for the breakdown of this song's brilliance, Dr.

[TheKhaibear]

@DrDreamPhD good call.

[RichardKoenigsberg]

Will he or she show up? A universal experience. Waiting--that's what life is all about.

[cyranothecat]

I you sure she's not talking about her drug dealer? It's a very opened ended song. It may not be anything romantic at all.

[poipu96756]

thanks again black. you have good taste...

[Nezmundo00]

Really quite a funky song

[BartA22]

but, there's still no buzzer....they roll on.......and I'm waitin for a car on the hill.

In one hundred years people living then will hear this tune on youtube and marvel at this talent as we do today.

[suziesbro]

I lived in Laurel Canyon during those wonderful days and I can relate so much to the lyrics. More than once did I sit and wait and wait and wait on Appian Way, listening to the sirens down below as I hoped and waited for that boy's car on the hill. (Sadly it ended with a car crash on Mulholland near Laurel. I will never forget him and always love him.)

[Auntkekebaby]

I so understand this song

[millvalleyrn]

" so much sweetness ... in the dark."

Court and Spark ... bittersweet magic

[jeffsdolphin]

I love you joni mitchell.......

[rosenbar]

yes......second to no one.

[ApollonianKing]

Why does Joni make people cry so much? Does she have a key to our souls?

[Gilyslas]

Classic music. Joni was in a class by herself.

[smartalek1]

@Gilyslas "Joni was in a class by herself."

"Was"?

Still is, yes?

[comingforthesun]

Luv it!

[titostacos]

Talk about turning pain into art...

[deanorval]

Music like this had large part in forming who I eventually became ,and still becoming, I wish artists of this quality for my children.

[JasonRB02]

Joni Mitchell is a true genius. Few people can write music and lyrics to such a high level of profoundness (is that a word?). And what I love is her abilty to mix social comment with pure love poetry and even humour, yet always display great insight.

[marialena68]

@JasonRB02 -- Love your comment, Jason. I completely agree with your astute assessment of Joni's genius. The word would be "profundity" -- but hey, "profoundness" delivers the same message. You would not believe how many times I have played all of my Joni CD's, and I still have all the LP's from my college days in Berkeley. Still love listening the "Ladies of the Canyon" on Sunday morning while I am making coffee and love listening to "Blue" when I'm feeling, well . . . . a bit blue!

[buschnic61]

man this song just knocks me flat out-

[tonto4848]

Such a great album !

With the distinctive guitar of Larry Carlton and Tom Scott's saxaphone !

[urthcreature]

impossible to pick a favorite off of court and spark, this song and all of Joni's work is so amazing. Always loved this one. I didn't discover Joni until I was a teenager in the '80s. When I listen to her now she still blows me away.

[Bearhawke42]

Def a happy song; reminds in part of my SoCal days of almost 30 years ago.

[Domers81]

Masterpiece

[pam101dalmatians]

i was in college 1973 santa cruz,,,went to record store,,bought this album...cashier dude said dylans planet waves was even better.....when i had the $ 2 buy p/w (took a year later) i compared the two...it's still a crap shoot.....i like em both the same

[jesmarluk]

I played this album nonstop when it came out. This song takes me way back. Joni is my favourite of all time. No one has come near her in capturing my attention!

[MsJune54]

one of my favorites from "Court and Spark." love it!!! thanks so much for posting it!!!

[Bearhawke42]

I have always liked this song :)

[Bearhawke42]

@suziesbro Good point from my days of living in SoCal.................and, driving on Laurel Canyon as well ca. 1982

[millvalleyrn]

work that represents the birth of a jazz artist.... i'm was so fortunate as a teen to have an ear for Hejira and Summer Lawns when I could have settled for radio and MTV

[fatgrl1935]

He's a real good talker, I think he's a friend, as tires come screaming around th' bend...

[czech698]

there was a perfectly good explanation for the skid on the icy snow of the drive: he'd braked to avoid a blackbird that was limping about in front of him.

[ricemilk]

TRACK OF MY LIFE!!

[TheNigelr]

he makes friends easy, not like me......

[bigrfish]

A good friend from Birmingham, Alabama, Wayne Perkins, plays electric guitar on this recording. I had never heard the tune before he gave me a copy of it. He says she was interesting to work with because of the complexity of her writing. Her studio technique was to record something several times and take the best bits from each take or performance and put them together into the final work. She was very focused and very intense in the recording process, spending a day or longer on one song.

[TheNigelr]

Genius..............

[Frankiarmz]

Great song. I love the instrumental beginning and then around 1:30 when it takes off. Her voice is amazing. What a gift .

[mlc2005]

This is yet another example of why Joni is widely regarded as an artistic genius. Everything on "Court and Spark" (and practically all of her other albums too, for that matter) is its own masterwork. It's not hard to understand how she came up with this stuff, as she clearly has one of the greatest minds of all time.

[eoj115]

love love love joni thank you thank you

[born1965]

My favorite song of Joni's. I wonder why?

[backgame]

My favorite artist of all time....period. "Court and Spark" is my constant companion. Joni's first nine albums were just about as good as it can get. The only collection that comes close is Pink Floyd (for me, that is).

[PeterOzanne]

@backgame 2 of my all-time favourites too, and you're a backgammon fan, judging by your name! I play a lot, including online at FIBS

[Bearhawke42]

@backgame I have the CD :)

[jeffsdolphin]

@backgame  wow fuckin hi praise ......you might be close

[martinishot]

@backgame Ditto! Joni & Pink...and, well...and The Doors. ;-)

[treg1980]

@backgame I wholeheartedly agree with you, although I don't care much for The Hissing of Summer Lawns. I'm a die hard Joni fan, but a critical one.

[backgame]

@treg1980 Yes, I'd have to agree that it started to change around the time of "Hissing of Summer Lawns." She did come back with the amazing "Hejira" album though right after that...one of my favorites for sure. Then she came back with "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter." To me, that wasn't a "great album," but it did have "Jericho" and "The Silky Veils of Ardor," two of her most beautiful pieces to date.

Good to know there are others out there still listening to the good stuff.

[backgame]

@treg1980 a "critical" Joni fan...I understand you there as well....as would Joni. Mass appeal never seemed to float her boat. As you clearly know, her art was criticized by many. One of her standout qualities (for me, anyway) is that she's a true artist. When I first heard her music, I thought it sounded dissonant, just "off"...little did I know she was rocking my world with her art. As for her later pieces, other than "Night Ride Home" and "Turbulent Indigo," none of it truly captured me.

[treg1980]

@backgame Hey backgame, we're so on the same level. Great to know there are other critical fans out there!

[cbarnickel777]

I agree, Joni was brilliant.

[treg1980]

@backgame I agree, although Don Juan's reckless Daughter is a boring uneven mass that could have been better. Only 2 or 3 songs on that album that I really like. Then Joni became lost in the 80's, but returned to her roots with the amazing Night Ride Home album in 1991.

Joni is one of my fave artists as well. She changed my life and the way I look at life, love and everything in between!

[esdel1955]

Forget the "female singer/songwriter" label; Joni Mitchell is the best, period.

[ricemilk]

i love the musicianship of this song its a masterpiece

[lenazoid]

I love the sassy brass background.

[titostacos]

I want to see comments and can't see any comments.

[ThreeSquawkingGeese]

Thank you for posting this song. What great memories!

[Villagejonesy]

My favorite song on this album. Love the way the flute holds on "I watch for judgment" and then melts at "anxiously." The whole interplay between all the instruments, the lead vocal and the backup vocals. A masterpiece.

[woodenships11]

@Villagejonesy This song is about one Jackson Browne, the dude she was waiting for.

[BrenFtl]

This song always reminds me of how nice it would have been to have joni and Laura Nyro do a song together . It's almost like I can hear Laura in the backround of this song !

[Bearhawke42]

@BrenFtl Good point since I like Laura Nyro as well

[Bearhawke42]

@BrenFtl I'm a Nyro fan as well........... :)

[mindoni]

Smile, hell. you wait for that married bastard!

[yobet17]

this one will always make me smile...

[lancitos]

Joni wanted this to be the first single from C and S, but honchos nixed it.

I love how she makes her layered voices into an orchestra,and how the band somehow makes their instruments sound like passing traffic. Brilliant as usual.

[powergirl901]

On the master tape of this, you'll find alternate Joni Vocals, the bits used to mix the background vocals, more LA Express members riffing..more Cheech and Chong bits for Twisted.

I'd love to be locked into a studio for two weeks just listening to it.

[dearambivalence]

A lot of songs off Ani DiFranco's "Evolve" album have a similar sound to them. Lots of jazz chords and whatnot.

[bookkeeper57]

This lady is an inspiration for Ani DiFranco, Torrie Amos, Chaka Khan and others: true artist.

[slapbush]

yep, tom scott and the la express...

[kels94]

Tom Scott on sax?

[pam101dalmatians]

yup

[bei1016]

This is a wonderful song. Thank you for this post. Joni is a favorite, always.

[hanbanxxx]

i used to listen to this when i was waiting for my boyfriend to pick me up

[normalil]

Thanks so much for this. Favourited.

[7936Barry]

Played this song as a DJ on late night college radio in the 70's.

I am transported back as I listen.

[BerlinLynn]

Transported, too, to a wonderful time in my life when I was young and safe and had everything ahead of me...

[roksancastle]

Safe????? You must mean that you lived in an all White neighbourhood!

[BerlinLynn]

LOL, when I was young I FELT safe, didn't mean I WAS safe...

[jadebrush]

How rascist. I suppose white people never commit crimes. How neatly you categorise everyone. I'd be proud to live in a neighbourhood with Barack Obama, Will Smith and millions of other black people..

[Villagejonesy]

Oops, my bad--you were referring to roksancastle's odd post, I guess. So I did miss one. Sorry.

[Frottagecub]

i wish people would post stuff about the song and not something impartially irreverent

[powergirl901]

This song opened the second side of the vinyl; anyone can confirm this??

[wink3940]

yes, definitely opener on second side of court and spark...this song still shocks me so much that i can't remember what comes after it on side 2.

[dasshtwo]

love This song so stylish Ahead of her time, its on lp court and spark : D T:

[sarah91587]

Shout out to Sam waitin for a motorcycle on the hill! Songs that capture life!

[internity2]

I love this song, and the album -- timeless, her voice reedy, mellow a human flute is sooo unique

[OlymPigs2010]

I don't know about the love affair but Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne both lived with David Geffen (record mogul and billionaire)and for years at a stretch,but not both at the same time.Geffen who claimed he had sex hundreds of times with girlfriend Cher,finally declared himself to be gay! Joni wrote a song about him "Freeman in Paris"! In the mid 90's Darryl Hanna accused Jackson Browne of physically abusing her!

[nyrichiek]

@OlymPigs2010 This song was written about Glenn Frey of the Eagles who Joni had dated for a brief peroid. But Frey as was his MO back then was love em and leave em Frey.

[handyman1017]

@nyrichiek The hardest part of being a JM fan is thinking about all the flakey musicians she has had flings with. It makes me both jealous and sorry for her at the same time.

[handyman1017]

@handyman1017 In response to the remark that the song was about a member of the Eagles.

[rachelkmac]

Jackson left her for another woman, Joni attempted suicide...then the woman he left her for also attempted suicide and the second time she succeeded.

[ktsenya2]

If I were on a deserted desert island and only 3 albums, one would be Joni's Court & Spark, Joe Walsh's "The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get" and... This was about Jackson Browne??? Tell us more!

[zackamish]

Love this song

[museumactor]

Yeah I agree.

She is timeless.

The best things are.

[lightdweller]

This song still speaks to me at age 46, much as it did as a 22 year old, Ohio black male, in 1984. I discovered this masterpiece album "Court & Spark" then while working in a health food store with a bunch of New Age hippies in Akron. Brings back fond memories.

[BerlinLynn]

I just found out that this song is about Jackson Browne.

[zackamish]

Can you tell me the story behind it

[BerlinLynn]

She wrote it one night as she was waiting for him to show up..."waitin for his car on the hill" (she lived, I believe, in Laurel Canyon)...I think he didn't show and that's the night they broke up.

[zackamish]

Thank you

[annachestnut]

1974!!! Women CAN relate to this!

[BerlinLynn]

Just listened to this again and got goosebumps...

[rainbow0921]

NO FAIR! i have every bit as good a voice as joni, but she gets to smoke cigarettes!

[BerlinLynn]

I've been waitin' for this video on YouTube! Thanks so much for posting this.

[blackkendoll82]

no prob

[blackkendoll82]

no prob